Within the hour, Buehrle signed a four-year, $58 million contract with the Marlins, leaving Rizzo and the Nationals to acquire a starting pitcher from somewhere else. Turns out that pitcher came from Oakland. His name was Gio Gonzalez, and he cost the Nats four top prospects in a trade.

Seven months later, the Nationals have no complaints about how the situation resolved itself. And tonight, they'll send Gonzalez (an All-Star with a 12-3 record and 2.92 ERA) to the mound against none other than Buehrle (8-8 with a 3.25 ERA) in a juicy twist of fate.

This will be fun to watch if the goofballs at MLB internet TV have gotten their technical act together. Both the Nats' game and the Braves/Mets game was AWOL thanks to their incompetence.In other news, Buehrle is doing better than I thought that he would. But he's still no Gio!!GoooooooooooGioooooooo! GoNaaaaaaaaaaaats!!!!

Just watched the Cubs beat Arizona on WGN. Dempster went six scorless to run his streak to 33 innngs. OTOH Greinke got shelled last night – 5 IP, 5 ER.Hmmm, well one guy is 35 years old. Say it slowly Jason Marquis. Ring a bell? The other guy figures he's just about to get traded. That can't be easy for him, given how sensitive he is to where he goes. Nevertheless his pitched Runs Above Average ranks at the same level as Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg which indicates he is a true #1 top-of-the-rotation starter at age TWENTY EIGHT.

Both the Nats' game and the Braves/Mets game was AWOL thanks to their incompetence.Some sort of cascading Internet storm … likely due to the Indians running MLB and other sites not believing that Russians had put up faux DNS nodes that the FBI just shut down after a year of leaving them up but routing packets them to the right places …

Peric, if we see Stammen get to 33 scoreless, I'll start listening to your argument. I'm just talking about this year, so I don't care how old Dempster is. I say he can help us after Stras goes down, help us clinch the pennant and win the world series.I bring up Greinke only because some have been saying he's the guy we should go get, and I'm totally against that because RIGHT NOW, he's not as good, and also he's an egotistical head case who will cause trouble with the chemistry. So you've got 3 sides that have been talked about on this blog: 1 – go with what we've got, 2 – Get Grienke, 3 – Get Dempster (me).So let's see what the FO decides. Until then, lets fillet some more fish!!!

So let's see what the FO decides. They'll go for Grienke, unless a Gio-like deal appears (admittedly preferable) Gee, its why they risked it all for Giolito!Ddoh (claps back of NCNatsie's head with why didn't you see that!) which is why I predicted that pick, right there on the spot! I can't shake vision of you with aluminum foil on your head as you use your computer. Oh, ho hum, look up the name of the guy the FBI arrested and charged in that case. Oh he's Russian … doh. Yep, they seem to think since they are better than most in Mathematics and by osmosis, Computer Science they can commandeer the Internet for their purposes. A lot of resentment and bitterness over how it all started here … the Internet is kind of a very cool recent rendition of a Jungian archetype … a very ancient desire telepathy … in fact a deeper more profound empathetic sort … better than canals, railroads, highways etc. Far more personal … As for the Indians they believe they are smarter and better than us. Which is funny. They typically ignore warnings from the National Computer Security Center e.g. the NSA. And the NSA? They wouldn't be able to even come close doing their job without the the "brainiacs" from Princeton who resided at the IDA Communications Research Division. But I digress … Aluminum foil … hmmm … better carbon paper … since according to Brit Physicist James Burke, led eventually, to the moonshot.

Except peric, and this is pretty amazing since you are normally a stickler for facts, that the DNS hijacking was quashed months ago, and the shutdown of the whole thing that caused some user's PCs, and not servers, to lose internet access happened a week ago. So last night's MLB Gameday issues had nothing to do with it.This is actually my space, from NightDragon to Stuxnet to Flame. You know not of which you speak.Stick to baseball.

that the DNS hijacking was quashed months ago, and the shutdown of the whole thing that caused some user's PCs, and not servers, to lose internet access happened a week ago. So last night's MLB Gameday issues had nothing to do with it.Again, up until very recently the packets were re-routed by the FBI. Then a couple of days ago (not a week) they finally shutdown the placeholders assuming everyone had listened and expunged the bad DNS records. And whooooaahh suddenly yesterday MLB goes down. Half of Europe can't see photos or manage their Facebook accounts? Lots of strange "coincidences" wouldn't you say.Not everyone listened ehay2k. Don't trifle with Guru's ehay2k, for you are crunchy and taste good with peanut butter.

You know not of which you speak.And unless you know which organization Don Knuth, Bob Sedgwick, and billionaire hedge fund founder Jim Simons worked at, or alt.flame? You know nothing about computing by comparison.

Adam Kilgore ‏@AdamKilgoreWPDespite Burnett feeling unconcerned, Davey says DL is a "big consideration." Too valuable to take a chance, he says.So now we know what roster move will happen when Storen is ready.

Ho Hum MicheleS … yawn …The Braves acquired infielder Paul Janish from the Reds Saturday in exchange for pitcher Todd Redmond. The Braves have been trying to acquire a shortstop since Andrelton Simmons broke his right hand last Sunday.Janish, who will report to the Braves Sunday, played all season at Triple-A Louisville and hit .237 in 49 games. He played 114 games with the Reds in 2011 and hit .214.“In evaluating after Simmons was hurt and talking to our scouts, we felt Janish was the best defensive shortstop out there that we could acquire,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said. “He was the number one guy on our list. … He is a proven defensive talent and we felt for our club that was the most important aspect of the acquisition.”

Looked back at the day of the Gio Trade. Some interesting stuff.. but a shout out to Sunshine in particular Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said… I'm in the minority, I'm sure, but I think it's great. Rizzo's best deal since he got Mickey Morse for Ryan Langershlang. A legitimate ace to go along with Jesus and Z'mmnn. This staff is built to take on the Phillies, Marlins, Braves, ace for ace. I really like it. Five years from now, after we've raised the flag, and if Milone et al strike it rich, you can say I was wrong.Rizzo 1, Moneyball 0. Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me said… And to all those people who think Rizzo got fleeced, I have one question:When was the last time Billy Beane won a World Series?

If Greinke can get comfortable and pitch outside of Milwaukee . And not get kicked out of games. And bring his own coffee on the road. Etc. etc .etc.Don't underestimate Grienke. It would be like the Phillies' acquisition of Oswalt or Roy Halladay. Except Grienke is a lot younger. And Atlanta can't do this unless they, like the Nats would, extend him immediately and thus avoid impending free agency. If all of that happens watch out!

Really cool graphic (the secret is out):Harper and Strrasburg might be bigger names in Cali. And then there's Gio who got his start with Oakland. If Rendon had somehow made it up it would be 75% Nats I bet.

@MicheleS: Woman, I love you! Thanks for the pub!Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.But thanks for remembering. I loved the Gio trade then. I love it even more now. And now we have Little Gio in the future.Let's go, Gio!

Nats need to mess with Buehrle's fast pace…Step out, take a walk around the plate, ala Jeter, who is the master of playing the game at the pace he wants (not the pitcher)Can't let Buehrle dictate like that…

Post of the day candidate from MicheleS: I realize that Carlos Lee owns a cattle ranch, but I didn't realize he ATE the cattle ranch. Wow.. He has gotten really big.I believe Carlos Lee has his own ZIP code now.He's still a few pounds below Todd Coffey, who I believe is the only D-cup in the majors.

OK, they just replayed the Conine throw. Mark, with all due respect, that was a weak throw if I had been in left, and I'm … ummm, a lot older than Conine. And I never had much of an arm. It got in on, like, five hops, from about 200 feet. He was a fine major league ballplayer, no need to gild the dandelion.

Swift.. That is an AWESOME DEAL. I had the 20% when I bought my Alternate Blue/Stars & Stripes Harper Jersey. (I am going to cringe when I open that charge bill – My Nephew got the Harper replica jersey that week too)

I hope nobody blames Gio, he pitched very well.Stammen keeps it 1 rungame may have been lost with Zim's at bat in 5th, we will see. At least he swung teh bat on 2-2.Every time I want to accept Espi, he does something to really tick me off. that NO SWING at bat last inning is unacceptable! What the heck was he doing?? Fast ball right down the middle of the plate and he looks at it like a deer in the headlights

Swami, Buerhle.. he is pretty good, we just got into the bullpen. Choate just got Bryce to K (one borderline pitch that Bryce wasn't happy with). And hopefully we can get that bullpen to cough up some runs

You will soon learn, I am a master of the obvious.The Fish are the bane of our existence. The Nats need to at least split the next two, lest they give the FIsh confidence.A tough loss, a few key missed opportunities, Marlins had everything go right in their few. I hate for Buerhle to get the win, since he spurned us, though I will forever be grateful he's responsible for Gio getting here, so that's something be pleased about, anyway.

Secret wasian manunfortunately you are right.Bryce still struggles against lefties, he will work it out. Espi, I hate to say it is just too inconsistent and what hurts, he was batting right handed tonight and STUNK up the place